Photographic lamp



Jan 21, l930 G. DlETz ET AL v l 1,744,369

' PHOTOGRAPHI C LAMP Filed lJly 18, 1927 3 sheets-sneer 1 g I ull 7&7TTOPA/EX Jan. 2l, 1930. G. Du-:Tz ET A1. 744369 PHOTOGRAPHIC LAMP lFiled July 18. 1927 5 sheets-Sheet 2 Jan. 2l`, 1930. v G. DIETz ETA. l1,744,359

` HOTOGRAPHIC LAMP Filed July 1s. 1927 s Sheets-sheet 5 fl aclosempphotographand Wh Patented Jan. 21, 1930 UNrl STATES TT GFFCEPHOTOGRAPHIC LAMP Appli-cation tiled July 18, 1527;

Our invention relates to photographic equipment and more particularly tothe lighting apparatus included in this equipment.

In the photographic art and iliarticularly 5 in the photography otmoving pictures, it is frequently necessary to make what is known as acloseup photograph. In a close-up the camera is placed close to theobject to be photographed and it' this is a persons tace, surfacedetects such as wrinkles become apparent which could not be seen in amore distant view. It has been tound that these wrinkles may bepractically eliminated by cross-lighting or directing lights against :ithe tace from dierent angles. rlhis is usually accomplished by a largenumber of lights and independent screens placed at various angles anddistances. The Vsetting up oit these lights and screens is a tedioustask consuming a large amount ot time ot the en tire company of actorsand technicians and thus involving an enormous item in the eX- pense ofmaking moving pictures.

lt is a general object of our invention to provide a photographic lampwhich is adapted to deliver light upon an object from a number ofditlerent directions.

It is another object to provide a photographic lamp of this nature whichmay be .-1) easily controlled.

In eliminating wrinkles in close-up views ot a persons tace, it isnecessary to light the tace by rays which cross in planes which areperpendicular to each other so that both vertical and horizontalWrinkles will be lighted.

15 outline, but must gradually merge into the more highly lightedportion of the tace.

; It is therefore another object of our invention to provide aphotographic lamp which is' adapted to light the tace ot a person for hwill cause Serial No. 209,743.

a slight shadow to appear on one side or the other ot the tace beingphotographed.

In a close-up photograph oi' a person, it is highly desirable that onlya single light be rellected in his eyes and yet it is essential that alight ot fairly high intensity illuminate his tace. In order to obtainsutlicient illumination and yet have but a single high light, it haspreviously been the practice to employ but a single source ot lightwhich, on account of its brilliancy, has been exceedingly tatiguing tothe eyes ot the person being photographed especially where this is anactor who must subject his eyes to these lights frequently.

lt is yet another object of our invention to provide a photographic lampadapted for taking a close-up photograph of a person in which the facewill not only be properly flooded with diffused light ot high intensity,

but where the eyes will reflect but a' single high light which will begenerated by a source of such small intensity that it'will not injurethe eyes ot the person being photographed.

Further objects and advantages will be made manifest in the followingdescription and in the accompanying. drawings in which a preferredembodiment ot' our invention is illustrated.

ln the drawings, Fig. 1 is a front elevation ot the lamp of ourinvention taken from the direction in which it faces.

Figs. 2 and 3 are detailed sectional views taken on the lines 2 2 and3-3 respectively of Fig. l.

Fig. 4; a bottoni plan view ot the lamp shown in Fig. l.

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on the .line 5 5 ot Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 6--6 of Fig. l.

Fig. 7 is a perspective View ot the lamp of our invention.

Fig. 8 is a horizontal diagrammatic view illustrating a modificationofour invention.

Referring specically to the drawings, l0 indicates a photographic lamphaving a substantially square trame l1 which is prefer ably ci `t so asto have a cross section, as starmi :in Fina- 2 and 3, @t angle ironshape,

including a peripheral web 12 and a radial web 13. As indicated in Fig.5, the frame 11 has top and bottom members 14 and 15 and side members 16and 17. A mounting bracket 18 is secured by screws 19 to the framemember 15. Formed on the bracket 18 is a vertical lug 20 which issecured by a manually operable lever screw 21 to a head 22 of asupporting standard 23. The standard 23 is preferabl telescopic aboutthree or four feet in heig t and is provided at its lower end with atripod having rubber tired casters (not shown).

As clearly shown in Fig. 5, the frame 11 has inward extending studs 25,26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, and 32. These studs are provided with suitablebores, the axes of all of which lie in the same plane. A hole 35 isprovided in the web 12 of the member 15 in alignment with the bearinghores of the lugs and 26, and a shaft 36 extends inward through the holeand journals in the bearing bores of lugs 25 and 26. A hand wheel 37 isprovided upon the outer end of the shaft 36. Longitudinal movement ofthis shaft is prevented by a sector beveled gear 38 mounted upon itsinner end and a collar 39 secured to the shaft adjacent to the lug 25. Acollar 40 is rigidly secured to the shaft 36 just inside the hole 35 anda thumb screw 42 is threadedly received in a suitable hole bored in thecorner portion of the frame forme'd in the juncture between the framemembers 15 and 16 so that, by rotation of the thumb screw 42 its innerend is brought to bear against the collar 40 to lock the shaft 36against rotation.

A shaft 45 is rotatably journalled in the bearing bores of the lugs 27and 28 so as to be disposed at right angles to the shaft 36. A sectorbeveled gear 46 is rigidly mounted upon one end of the shaft- 45 so asto mesh with the sector gear 38. rl`he opposite end of the sha-ft 45 hasa collar 48 rigidly secured thereon, the collar 48 and the sector gear46 reventing longitudinal movement of the sha Vt 45.

A hole 50 is formed in the web 12 of the frame member 15 in alignmentwith the bearing bores of the lugs 29 and 3() and a shaft 51 extendsinward through the hole 50 so as to journal in the bores of the lugs 29and 30. The outer end of the shaft 51 has a hand wheel 52 rigidlysecured thereto. The inner end of the shaft 51 has a collar 53 rigidlysecured thereto and a beveled sector gear 54 is rigidly secured upon theshaft 51 so that the collar 53 and the gear 54 cooperate to preventlongitudinal movement of the shaft 51. A collar 55 is rigidly Secured tothe shaft 51 inside the frame 11 from the hole 50. A thumb screw 56 isthreadedly received in a suitable hole bored in the frame 11 at thejuncture of the frame members 15 and 17 so that when the thumb screw 56is screwed inward its inner end will engage the collar and lock theshaft 51 against rotation.

A shaft 58 is journalled in the bores of the studs 31 and 32. A beveledsector gear 59 is rigidly secured to one end of the shaft 58 so as tomesh with the gear 54. On the opposite end of the shafts 58 a collar 60is rigidly secured to cooperate with the gear 59 to prevent longitudinalmovement of the shaft 58.

The web 13 of the frame 11 is provided with a recess which extends aboutthe entire edge of the inner opening of the frame 11. Corner plates 66are secured within the corners of the recess 65 by rivets 67, as shownin Figs. 2 and 3. Exterior corner plates 68 are provided, one of whichembraces each corner of the frame 11 and is secured thereto by machinescrews 69. Eyes 70 are secured to the plates 68, as clearly shown inFie. 2, for a purpose to be described later. A rear reflector plate 71is mounted on hinges 72 on the frame member 17 so that when it is swimginward its edges will rest within the recess 65, and it is adapted to beheld in this recess by a suitable latch 73 provided upon the oppositeframe member 16.

The shafts 36 and 51 are provided with side reflector plates 75 and 76and the shafts 45 and 58 are provided with top and bottom reflectorplates 77 and 78, all of these reflector plates being mounted upon theirrespective shafts in the same manner which will be made clear by adescription of Fig. 3, in which the mounting of the plate 78 upon theshaft 58 is shown. As shown in this lig ure, the inner edge of thereflector plate 78 is bent around the shaft 58 to form a tubular clamp80. The space between the shaft 58 and the tubular clamp 8O is filledwith friction packing 81 and the edge 82 of the plate 7 8 is drawntoward the body thereof by suitable bolts 83. The outer ends of thebolts 83 pass through a metal bar 84 which tends to reinforce thereflector 78 and assist the clamping action of the bolts 83.

A reinforced channel member 85 is riveted or suitably secured otherwiseto the outer face of each of the reflector plates 75, 76, 77 and 78 soas to rigidify these plates. rlhe inner end of each of the members 85laps over the bar 84 and extends beneath the nut of the bolt 83 so as tobe gripped Jthereby. rl`he clamps 80 of each of the reflector plates 75,76, 77 and 78 grip their respective shafts with sufficient force so asto normally retain these plates in whatever position they may haverelative to their shafts. The friction between the clamps 8() and theseshafts, however, is insuflicient to prevent the manual adjustment ofthese plates relative to the shafts, if this is desired.

Corner reflectors 88, 89, and 91 are mounted in an identical. manner onthe cor- Cil ners of the frame 11. Each of these corner reflectorsincludes a plate llelwhich is bent at 05 to form wings 96 and 97, whichwings are adapted to engage the reflector plates which are adjacentthereto, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 7. The character and mountingof these corner reflector plates beingl identical, the description ofthe corner plate 91, as shown in Fig. 2, will serve for all.. Disposedin the lower end of the bend and rigidly secured by rivets to the wings96 and 97 is a corner reflector mounting bracket 101 providing an eye102 which is looped through the eye 70, and a lever arm 103 which isconnected by a tension spring; 10st to the corner plate 66, disposedt-herebeneath. rlhe corner spring,r 104 on each of the corner reflectors88 to 01 urges that reflector in Constant en# gasyement with that sideplate and the top or bottom reector plate to which it is adjacent. Alight supporting bracket 110 is rigidly secured to the mounting?,`bracket 18 of the lamp and extends horizontally and forwart just belowthe reflector plate 78. An electric light socket 111 is rotatablymounted upon the head 112 of tl e bracket 110 and the socket 111 may berotated on tbe bracket by a fin ger lever 113 extending` from a collar114 which is provided upon the 115 of the socket 111. The socket 111when thus mounton the Vbracket extends upward through a hole 116provided in the reflector plate 78 an d in the channel member 85 securedthereto. The socket 111 is adapted to receive an elec- J tric light bulb118 which is preferably a lamp of fairly high candle power. A spot 119on the outer surface of the bulb 118 is preferably frosted to render itsemi-transparent for a purpose to be described later, or this spot maybe rendered opaque by any welldrnown means. The bulb 118 may be suppliedwith current by suitable conductors 120 which lead from the socket stemto a suitable switch 121 provided upon the frame 11.

The operation of our invention is as follows:

A lamp 10 is supportedon the standard 23, as clearly shown in theperspective view of Fi 7 and the lamp is energized so that rays of lieht emanate therefrom, as shown in Fig. 6. The subject is now placedbefore the lamp and the intensity of the light upon his face isobserved. If the light is too concentrated, or if it is desired todiffuse the light to one side and upward, the thumb screw 4t2 isreleased and the hand wheel 87 is rotated in a lefthand direction so asto rotate the reflector plate 7 5 outward and the reflector plate 77upward, after which the thumb screw 4-2 is set again. The cornerreflectors 88, 89, and 91 accommodate themselves automatically to thesechanges in position of the reflector plates 7 5 and 77.

1f the lighting is now satisfactory excepting for the absence of asuitable shadow on a given part of the face, the bulb 118 may be rotatedby the manipulation of the linger lever 118 to position the spot 119 sothat the spot acts to shield a certain portion of the subject from thedirect rays of the light gen-- erated in the bulb 118. lf the reflectorplates 76 and 78 remain in a relative inward position while the plates75 and 77 are relatively distended, concentration from the light of thebulb 118 in the lower right-hand portion of the subject will be effectedwhile the light which is directed against the upper lefthand portion ofthe subject will be diffused.

rlhe reflector plates 76 and 7 8 may be coordinately adjusted in thesame manner by manipulation of the thumb screw 56 and the hand wheel 52.

1t is wished to call attention to the fact that at no time is a curvedsurface reflector utilised in reflecting` light upon the subject. Thusno concentrated high lights or spots of light will be formed which willcreate an illusion of distortion so as to spoil the picture. lllorcover,the perfect adjustability of f1, reflecting' plates, as well as theireasy cco='diiate adjustment in pairs, renders it po e to secure anydesired lighting effect in a iiiinimtm of time. The cooperation betw onthe shield spot 119 and the reflector s of the lamp is also of immenseadvansecuring the desired high lights and for the purpose of close-upphotography in the makingl of moving,` pictures.

As diagrammatically shown in Fig. 8, a amp may be used which isidentical with e lamp 10 excepting that two light bulbs 121 and 122 areused in the place of the single light bulb 118 of the lamp 10. ln thelamp 120 the bulbs are rotatable in the manner as described for the bulb118.

v"citation of the bulb 121 is for the purpose djustingg the position ofa spot- 128 formed tb .been in Athe saine manner as the spot 119 isformed on the bulb 118. The lamp 122 A rovides means for obtaining asingle high light in the eyes of the subject without subj ecting` hiseyes to'too powerful a light. For this reason the bulb 122 is lesspowerful than the bulb 121 so that the high light in the eyes is formedby the light 122, but the flood of diffused light necessary forilluminating the features of the subject is supplied by the bulb 121,the subject being shielded from receiving` the direct rays of the bulb121 by the spot 128.

The bulb 122 also has a spot 126 which may be positioned to the front bytinninp,` the bulb 122 so that the direct rays of neither of the bulbs121 and 122 are directed toward the front. Only reflected'light rays arethen directed from the lamp 120. Arc lamps may be used in the lamps 10or 120 in place of bulbs, in which case asbestos shields are used inplace of the spots 110,128, and 126.

IVe claim as our invention:

1. In a photographie lamp, the combination of: means for generating alight at a iven position; a series of plane surface reectors disposedabout said light; means for rotating said reflectors about given axesrelative to said light; a shield disposed close to said light andadapted to intercept rays of light radiating directly from said light ina given direction; and means by Which said shield may be selectivelypositioned around the vertical axis of said light-generating means.

2. In a photographic lamp; the combination of: means for generating alight at a given posit-ion; a series of plane surface reflectorsdisposed about said lie'ht; means for rotating said reflectors aboutgiven axes relative to said light; a shield disposed close to said lightand adapted to intercept rays of light radiating directly from saidlight in a given direction; and means controllable at a point outsidesaid reflectors by which said shield may be revolved about an axispassing through said light and nonparallel with the direction in whichsaid lamp faces.

3. In a photographie lamp; the combination of: means for generating alight at a given position; a series of plane surface reflectors disposedabout said light; means for rotating said reflectors about given axesrelative to said light; corner reflectors engaging adjacent pairs of theaforesaid reflectors; and means for maintaining said corner reflectorsin engagement with the aforesaid reflectors during a movement of thelatter.

4. In a photographic lamp, the combination of: means for generating alight at a given position; a series of plane surface reflectors disposedabout said light; means for rotating said reflectors about given axes ingroups; a reflector in each group being rotated coordinatcly withanother reflector in that group relative to said light; cornerreflectors engaging adjacent pairs of the aforesaid reflectors; andmeans for maintaining said corner reflectors in engagement with theaforesaid reflectors during a movement of the latter.

5. In a photographic, the combination of: means for generating a lightat a given position; a series of plane surface reflectors disposed aboutsaid light; means for rotating said reflectors about given axes relativeto said light; corner reflectors engaging adjacent pairs of theaforesaid reflectors; and means for automatically maintaining saidcorner reflectors in engagement With the aforesaid reflectors during amovement of the latter.

6. In a photographic lamp, the combination of: means for generating alight at a given position; a series of plane surface reflectors disposedabout said light; means for rotating said reflectors about given axesrelative to said light; and corner reflectors engaging' adjacent pairsof the aforesaid reflectors. y

7. In a photographic lamp, the combination of: a frame; a light sourcemounted on said frame; a plurality of shafts pivoted in said frame; areflector plate carried by each of said shafts; means for simultaneouslyturning a pair of adjacent shafts to regulate the angle of the beam oflight transmitted; and meas extending between adjacent reflector platesto form an enclosure of said light source in a plane perpendicular tothe beam of light transmitted by said lamp.

8. A combination as defined in claim 8 in which said corner reflectorshave Wings which engage adjacent reflectors and lie in planes parallelto said reflectors.

9. In a photographic lamp; the combinaion of: a series of planereflectors; corner lectors extending between said plane re- Accors;means for rotating said plane remeans for holding said corner reflec cisin contact with said plane rel t as said plane reflectors are rotated; alignt source; a semi-transparent shield adjacent said light source; andmeans for shifting said shield around the vertical axis of said lightsource.

l0. In a photographic lamp, the combination of: a socket having avertical axis; an incandescent electric light bulb in said socket; aplurality of vertical reflectors extending on three sides of said bulband adapted to refl ict rays therefrom; and a semi-transparent shieldformed on the side of said bulb, the position of said shield beingshiftable around the vertical axis of said socket when said bulb isrotated so as to vary the character of the beam of light derived fromsaid lamp.

1l. In a photographie lamp, the combination of: a light source; a seriesof plane surface reflectors disposed about said light source; means forrotatably mounting said reflectors, so that they may be rotated bothsingly and in groups about given axes relative to said light; cornerreflectors engaging adjacent pairs of said plane surface reflectors; andmeans acting to force said corner reflectors into engagement with saidplane surface reflectors when the latter reflectors are rotated.

In testimony whereof; We have hereunto set our hands at Los Angeles,California; this 28th day of June, 1927.

GUSTAV DIETZ. RAYMOND DIETZ.

